Bays win challenging contest at the Ponderosa

After a weekend off for most of our group, which included some down time in between some solid training sessions, we headed out to Elizabeth to face an ever-improving Central District Football Club, that have been impressive in the first six rounds of the season. We arrived knowing full well it was going to be a tough, uncompromising contest, and that is what we got. The persistent rain throughout the day just added to the challenge.

We were reasonably happy with our effort throughout the first quarter. We were able to control the ball around contest and our forward-half pressure was strong. There were some costly turnovers through the mid half of the ground that took away some scoring opportunity, but overall, we felt like we had set the game up reasonably well. The second quarter clearly wasn’t our best for the year by any stretch. We were not able to maintain the energy we had shown in the first quarter and found ourselves having to scramble defensively in our own half for long periods. The trend of turnovers through the mid zone continued and didn’t help our cause. We felt we were lucky to be only eight points down at half time, but with plenty of work to do we needed a strong response in the second half.

Pleasingly our third quarter was positive, with control around the contest, a significant lift in work rate, and some solid football creating several opportunities to put it on the scoreboard. Five goals were a nice reward, but a small lapse late in the quarter kept the margin to only 16 points at the last break.

Our last quarters been strong over the first part of the year ,which gave us some nice confidence. To Centrals’ credit, they kept coming, and although we missed some chances early in the quarter, they were able to close the margin to three points with plenty of time left in the game. As has been the case, our defence held up strongly in the last quarter and allowed us to get away with a 9-point win. While we didn’t play our best football over the day, the strength of the competition means winning in these circumstances is incredibly important. We take the two points and look to keep improving into this weekend.

Our Reserves suffered a close loss in their top-of-the-table clash. Persistent rain didn’t allow for the free-flowing football that the group has been able to play in recent times, but there were some good signs in staying in the contest and giving themselves a chance to win the game right up until the siren. While it’s a disappointing loss, there continues to be several guys playing strong consistent football and keeping the pressure on the players above.

Congratulations to Liam McBean on playing his 100th game. He is certainly a highly-respected and well-loved player, not only at Glenelg, but also right throughout the competition. We look forward to watching the next part of his career unfold here at the Bay.

This week we head into a great challenge against a strong Adelaide Football Club. We know we need to be at our best, and we look forward to the challenge as well as seeing all our supporters here on Saturday afternoon to cheer us on.

– Darren Reeves, Senior Coach

Goal kickers: Matt Coulthard (4), L. Hosie (2), L. McBean, C. Gerloff

Best players: Luke Partington, Toby Pink, Matt Snook, Matthew Coulthard, Brett Turner, Brodie Newman